(New York) “She’s a liar!” “: Donald Trump did not appear at the civil trial in New York where an author accuses him of rape in the 1990s, but the jury was able to view Thursday his testimony during the procedure, a video where he strongly denies the facts presumed.
“She’s a liar and she’s really sick […] I think she’s sick, she has mental disorders”, repeats the former president, blue jacket and blue tie on a white shirt, filmed during his deposition in October 2022.
In his absence and given the impossibility of questioning him, the lawyers for the accuser, E. Jean Carroll, had requested that large extracts be broadcast at trial.
In this civil case, a jury of nine citizens will decide whether the former president should pay damages to E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him since 2019 of having raped her in the spring of 1996 in the dressing room of a New York department store, then defaming her by claiming she was lying.
During his deposition, Donald Trump reiterates that he does not know E. Jean Carroll, at the time a columnist for Elle magazine, and he reaffirms several times that she is “not (his) type”, which he had already said.
He is then confronted with a photo during a social evening where he is in front of E. Jean Carroll, years before their alleged 1996 encounter.
While claiming he doesn’t remember the scene, the former president confuses the complainant with his ex-wife, Marla: “She’s my wife…she’s Marla,” he says, immediately corrected by his lawyer, who clarifies that “it’s (E. Jean) Carroll”.
The jury was also able to watch Thursday an excerpt from a video that has become famous, where we hear Donald Trump in 2005 make degrading remarks against women.
He brags about kissing them and touching them as he pleases, then adds, “When you’re famous, they let you. You can do anything. Catch them between the thighs.”
“It’s really old news,” he reacted during his deposition, before reiterating that it was “locker room talk”, or “it’s the way people talk”.
According to a report by the American media, Donald Trump has been accused in the past by more than 20 women of having sexually assaulted them or of having made inappropriate gestures against them. He has always denied these accusations and has never been prosecuted.
E. Jean Carroll, 79, was able to sue under a New York state law allowing sexual assault victims to reinitiate their civil lawsuits, even if criminally barred.
